Kanto, Japan · Mountain
A hot spring town built around its famous 365-step stone stairway (one for each day of the year), lined with ryokan, shops and standing hot-spring fountains; at the top, the twin baths Kogane-no-yu (iron-rich golden water) and Shirogane-no-yu (clear water), and nearby, Lake Haruna and Mount Haruna-Fuji with its own shrine.
Train — JR Agatsuma line from Takasaki to Shibukawa, ~30min, ¥420, + local bus to Ikaho Onsen, ~25min, ¥580, total ¥1,000-1,190 depending on connection. The JR Takasaki-Shibukawa leg is the dominant segment in both distance and time compared with the short final private-bus hop.
The 365 stone steps that form the town's backbone, one for each day of the year, lined with ryokan, souvenir shops and free hot-spring foot baths (ashiyu) to soak your feet along the walk.
One of the three great udon of Japan, with some 400 years of history; it is eaten along a whole street of old houses devoted to almost nothing else.
A shrine more than 1,400 years old wedged among enormous rocks at the end of a wooded path, one of the places with the most atmosphere in all of Gunma.
A public rotenburo at the spring source itself, at the very top of the town, among the trees.
Ikaho's two hot springs: Kogane-no-yu ("golden water"), an orange iron-rich colour, and Shirogane-no-yu ("silver water"), clear, both with public bathhouses open to visitors not staying at a ryokan with its own onsen.
A volcanic crater lake a short distance from Ikaho, with the small Haruna shrine on its shore and the cone of Mount Haruna-Fuji behind it, popular for its autumn views.
Stop number 16 on the Bando 33 Kannon pilgrimage, with a revolving six-sided pagoda and the udon village at its feet.
The brown filled bun now sold at every onsen in Japan is held to have been born here; on the stairway you can compare one maker against another.
Black pavilions by Arata Isozaki out in open country, with contemporary art and a room of Edo-period art; check the season and opening hours before going.
A farm with animals and a sheepdog show, the classic stop for families coming up to Ikaho.
From 18 to 20 September the mikoshi are carried down the 365 stone steps on shoulders; in March those same steps are covered in dolls for Hina Matsuri.
4 minutes by ropeway up to the Miharashi viewpoint, with trails through the prefectural forest park.
The shrine crowning the 365 stone steps, the point where the climb ends and the view begins.
A red bridge over a wooded stream next to the source of the iron-rich water that gives the town its colour, with a fountain for drinking it and illumination in autumn.
At dusk the stairway fills with people in yukata playing at the old-style shooting and archery stalls: the Japanese version of an evening stroll.
Ikaho was a refuge for artists and writers: one museum is devoted to the painter Takehisa Yumeji and another to the novelist Tokutomi Roka, who died here.
The bends of Mount Haruna are the real 'Akina' of the racing manga and anime Initial D; they can be driven or cycled from the town.
An enormous toy collection with full-size reconstructed Showa-era streets, a trip back to a Japanese childhood of the 1960s.
Pieces glazed with the sediment of the spring itself, a golden brown that only comes out with this water.
One of the largest ice rinks in Japan, used for Olympic training and open to the general public as well.
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